The Congress held no post-mortem on the party’s disastrous election strategy in Bihar and Jharkhand, which was the brainchild of Arjun Singh and M L Fotedar. The two were protected by Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, who appointed them in the first place and had to perforce defend them. It was Ahmed who mounted the campaign to cover up the earlier folly by attempting to install UPA state governments at any cost, not considering that the earlier goof-ups could be compounded in the bargain. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (also very visible in the Goa operation), Harikishore Bahadur and Ajit Jogi were part of the caucus. Law Minister H R Bhardwaj was believed to have been consulted. Most senior and seasoned Congress leaders were kept out of the loop including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself. On Tuesday, Opposition Leader L K Advani alerted the PM that he feared that Governor Syed Sibte Razi would act unconstitutionally. Singh assured that he would check with his Home Minister. Two hours later, when Vajpayee telephoned the PM, Singh claimed apologetically that he had not been able to get in touch with Shivraj Patil. Significantly, it was Patil, and not Singh, who briefed President Kalam on developments in Jharkhand, which is not the customary practice. For instance, last month there was a proposal on the agenda to revive the Andhra Legislative Council. The Congress ministers were divided on the issue, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was against the proposal as also the NCP’s Sharad Pawar and Laloo. But when Laloo’s trusted lieutenant, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, spoke out in favour of the move, Laloo changed his view. What is more, once Laloo switched sides he expected everyone else to follow suit. He announced firmly that the proposal would be implemented. No one from the Congress or the allies demurred. Keen to make up Laloo Prasad Yadav approached Mulayam Singh Yadav for the support of the four SP MLAs in the Bihar Assembly. But considering Laloo’s earlier insults to Mulayam’s right-hand man Amar Singh — he accused him of hobnobbing with film stars and creating a divide in the Ambani family — a rapprochement is unlikely unless Laloo is prepared to eat humble pie first. In Parliament on Thursday, Laloo’s trusted lieutenant Raghuvansh Prasad Singh went out of his way to make friendly overtures to Amar Singh who refused to bite the bait, sarcastically recalling past slights. Unlike the flamboyant Laloo, Raghuvash Prasad, who has his feet firmly on the ground, is conscious that it might not be easy to form an RJD government in the immediate future. There could be a spell of President’s Rule first. The rural development minister was the only person in the RJD with guts enough to tell Laloo that he should not blame the Bihar electorate but the poor ticket selection for the party’s electoral reverses. Singh had made his displeasure known by pointedly staying away from Patna during the ticket distribution. Missing in the Pixs MoS for Finance S S Palani Manickam was missing from all the pre-Budget photo opportunities. He did not follow the customary tradition of accompanying his senior minister when he called on President Kalam. Nor was he by P Chidambaram’s side when he entered Parliament on Budget day. He was absent from the Cabinet meeting when the Finance Minister briefed his ministerial colleagues on the salient features of the Budget. The junior minister’s excuse was that he had been called to Chennai by his leader M Karunanidhi, who was fuming against the government over Congress minister EVKS Elangovan’s disrespectful remarks about its UPA ally. But the DMK minister was in fact back in the Capital on Monday morning and could have easily accompanied Chidambaram on his rounds if he had wanted to. Clearly, the DMK wants to make its displeasure with its alliance partner very clear. Hands on, not armchair Detractors of BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley used to joke that he was an armchair expert on poll strategy considering the only election he had ever fought was when he had stood for president of the Delhi University Students Union some 30 years back. But the NDA’s surprisingly strong showing in Bihar, despite the sceptics, adds one more feather in Jaitley’s cap. Earlier, as campaign manager in the Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka Assembly elections, he ensured that the party was ahead of its rivals, even though in the last two States the first prognosis for the NDA was gloomy. Similarly, Rajnath Singh, the Jharkhand campaign manager for the BJP has enhanced his standing in the Parivar and party by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Singh song A Ram Vilas Paswan supporter insisted that neither the RJD nor the NDA would rule Bihar, ‘‘Raj karega Khalsa’’. His logic was that three Sardars would be in charge if President’s Rule is declared: Governor Buta Singh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and possibly UPA adviser at large, Surjeet Singh.
